snow

Noggin used to love his toys - and very rarely destroyed them thats why we still have all those he just used to love to cuddle up to them or play throwing and pouncing games. Baddie was offered them to play with but never showed any interest in toys of any kind even squeaky ones which always made me feel a little sad for him. Whats surprising to me is every one of the squeaky ones still squeaks and theres one that both jiggles and whistles and thats still working too. Fred apparently plays with squeaky toys and has a teddy he sleeps with in his kennel, he's also apparently pretty intelligent for a greyhound and loves mental games too. For those of you on facebook you'll notice I haven't yet said anything publicly about him or us going to get him because I don't usually like to post anything about being away from home until last min - just in case. I suspect I might post pics from Gap when we're there and on our way home.

I've done my online Tesco shop and for the first time in weeks it didn't give me an ouch moment when I looked at my "usuals" list and saw all the dog stuff - instead I was happily adding it back in my basket again We've also retrieved all Nogs saved toys from the garage where we'd stored them in a sealed bag - I don't think Fred will need any new ones for quite awhile 😄

His shoulder seems to have just been a bump - he's had it xrayed and checked over and its all fine now thankfully Sue we did if and am about taking on a new dog - not just the sadness over Baddie but the recognition that in lots of ways life revolves around the dog (rightly so) but it means limited time leaving him alone, arranging our diaries to deconflict when we are working so they are never left alone over 4 hours, where we can go on days out, the cost of dog ownership food, treats, insurance, boarding costs on top of holiday costs etc. Baddie in the last 12 months of his life was costing us £108 insurance plus £30 medication a month and 20% of all vet visits on top of food and treats. It soon adds up and we regret and begrudge nothing about the cost, but when you've not had that cost for a couple of months and see the difference in the bank account ... it does make you pause. Fred is only about 4 - younger than we've had in over a decade so we had to consider whether a younger dog would like our quiet home and whether we wanted a potentially fit, bouncy dog who might want 6 miles hikes with zoomies at the end of it - though I'm assured by Lisa Fred is actually "bone idle" and very often refuses to go on walkies he's that lazy lol we thought long and hard and talked and talked and we asked Lisa lots and lots of questions. Fred wasn't the only dog we'd seen and we had been approached by another rescue to consider one of their dogs who was very much in need but he wouldn't have been right for us so we said no. I think Fred is right for us & I hope he thinks we are right for him because all being well he'll be with us for a very long time.

Freds had the all clear from the vet and if his shoulder or feet ever cause him problems again Gap will cover it - going to go get him This weekend - starting to get excited now

I think its possibly the angle Sue - Lisa says he's medium sized for a Greyhound Baddie was a big boy so I think this one will be more Noggin's size. He's 4 -ish currently called Jaffa but as of Saturday he will be Frederick The Fast aka Fred lol

Its official - subject to a vet check up and a successful meeting this handsome chap will be joining us from Greyhound Gap this weekend

Big bed lol was always going to be a big bed when we were ready ....and we're ready and have offered and all being well with him getting a vet check we hope to meet him soon .... he may have a pointy nose ...

I might have been out shopping this afternoon for a dog guard and posh dog bed....

My hair is bright orange and I love it even though hubby says I look like an Orangutan 🙄 I use my scooter in the hospital these days Suzeanna every dept is so far apart and very often full to bursting with nowhere to sit to wait but not ideal for going on the bus would a 4 wheeled walker be any use? They are light to lift on and off buses and fold up, and they have a seat so that if you need to just take a break or get the weight off your feet for 5 mins they are really handy.

I'm not a fan of British dramas, I tend to follow American stuff - all 3 NCIS variants, The Rookie, The Expanse (superb adaptation of the books) Criminal Minds, Blue Bloods, F.B.I. The new Star Trek Discovery (though its a love/hate thing at times) Billions, S.W.A.T. Manifest, Killjoys and Take Two wasn't bad. I also like Endeavour having come "late" to the "Morse" world - I first watched Lewis then when I'd gone through all those I saw the first couple of series of Endeavour and went backwards and watched all the box sets of Morse 😁

Sadly at the moment we don't have any pets, Baddie (greyhound) crossed the rainbow bridge in November we didn't want to rehome over Christmas as we had family here with their little Patterdale terrier who we looked after for 2 weeks so it didn't feel right to try and bring in a new dog with everything so busy here.

Theres also a 2nd element to the "privacy" in that all my family and now a wide circle of friends from real life etc. are all on my friends list and I am forever being asked "whats going on?" or "you didnt tell me that.." etc. etc. its become TOO public and whilst you can set up groups for different things its a pain in the behind to have to change who sees what post and then remember to change it back again - I'm also getting fed up of the non stop adverts or "sponsored" pages & groups littering my timeline and drowning out the posts I WANT to see. I have dozens of groups on "30 day snoozes" as I will go to the group if/when I want to read the posts - I've turned off all the settings but somehow the posts keep on coming unless I snooze them. Its soooo much more peaceful on a forum.

Maybe we just need to make an effort on faceache to entice people back and bring some new friends with them? Frankly there are some real advantages of forums over facebook these days - the wheel is slowly coming full circle I think. I'm back too - my apologies for wandering off - no excuses apart from feeling that I was in danger of becoming a moaning minnie so I just stopped posting and that turned into stopped visiting for a while - must say though I've missed everyone. For those that don't know we lost Baddie in November so I'm currently dogless - Rob's starting to talk about getting another dog but whereas I was keen almost immediately and he wasn't I'm now finding myself a little unsure - Baddie walked in when we were so heartbroken and he didn't put a foot wrong from the first minute to the last he was such a good boy in every respect its hard to imagine being so lucky again. On the other hand there is a dog that needs us so.... watch this space ...

Yeah much much safer than smoking Marian in fact Public Health England are promoting vaping in a big way as are Cancer Research and even ASH! https://www.gov.uk/government/news/e-cigarettes-around-95-less-harmful-than-tobacco-estimates-landmark-review- thats from the Government - 95% LESS harmful than cigs Public Health England are also backing a new campaign for employers to allow vaping at work.

Oh its lovely here - I've been out and back for my mammogram this morning and it was already quite warm at 9am. Hoping it stays dry at least next week when I'm on holiday - it won't matter too much for some of the things we have planned which are indoors but we're spending a day at Monkey World (I'm really excited about it!) and that will be mainly outside. The law is changing at midnight about eigs and vaping, sadly big tobacco lobbied the EU and they passed a set of laws and regulations which will very seriously affect anyone who wants to quit smoking and start vaping. Its a flawed stupid law which has absolutely no foundation other than to protect the tobacco companies who were losing revenue as more and more people world wide quit cigarettes and took up vaping. Currently you can buy e-liquid in large bottles but as of midnight you will only be allowed to buy in 10ml size bottles (think the size of a bottle of food flavouring) you'll also be restricted in how much nicotine they can contain. You'll no longer be able to buy 72mg strength nicotine which is what I have in litre bottles you'll be restricted to 20mg strength in 10ml bottles as you can imagine thats going to put the price up considerably. They've also decided to make an arbitrary tank size of 2ml whereas all mine are 5ml - this means people will be walking around with bottles of eliquid to keep topping up throughout the day - makes no sense at ALL. They also decided that every single flavour has to be licensed and set a ridiculous fee so small producers have had to drastically cut back on the wide range of flavours they have had available as they simply cannot afford the license fees. So the sales are for those juices that won't be made any more and those who were made before the regs came in but are in larger sized bottles. I'll be OK as I said I have my tanks and nicotine all stocked up but new vapers won't have the same wide range of options that I had when I quit smoking.

Last day of TPD bargain hunting today - I have spent a small fortune in the past 3 weeks after midnight tonight the new law comes into effect and you can't get decent sized eliquid tanks or non complaint (new regs) eliquid anymore. Loads of flavours will disappear forever, and vaping is going to get more expensive for new vapers. Thankfully I have 2 litres of nicotine in the freezer which is enough to make my own for about 6 years, and I've stocked up on my tanks and coils. Vendors are currently selling off juice at bargainous prices so I've bought litres of ready made so called "premium" juice at rock bottom prices which will mean my nicotine stocks will last even longer.

Suzeanna hospital appointments are a blinking nightmare these days I've got my post op check in a couple of weeks and I suspect I'll be there all blinking day the way that clinic is usually running.

Sorry to read your news about Jim Blackmagic it must be a heck of a stressful and exhausting time for you both. I switched Baddie to previcox about 3 weeks ago Marion he just wasn't getting on with the tramadol and metacam he'd started refusing food and just laying on his bed groaning - given he's an eating machine to see him refuse food was really concerning and I was pretty sure it had to be a sore tummy from the meds. Vet was happy to go along with my suggestion but we first had to give him a full 7 days with no medication so it all cleared his system before starting with the new stuff - during those 7 days he became awfully stiff but his appetite came back almost immediately which at least to me proved my theory since being on the previcox he's been much better he just seems a lot easier when getting up and down and his appetite is staying good he's also stretching out more when sleeping and just seems a lot more relaxed and comfortable, still the odd groan now and again but thats a bit like me these days too lol.

Have been all over the place lol I'm working extra hours at the moment, plus we had Nick staying for a couple of weekends for the rugby then they all came down last weekend so he could go to the rugby with Barita and then he and Vicky went off to that there London for a few days as Vicky's b'day treat so Nana & Grampy had Owen (and Bruno) allllll to themselves for a couple of days so we were either out and about with him trying to wear him out (not possible!) or we were at home trying to keep him amused. And I have to hold my hands up and admit to being an April the giraffe addict so I've been watching the web cam for what seems like forflippingever! I also had a bout of cantbearseditis and fatigue so I was coming home from work eating lunch and falling asleep in the chair all afternoon at the same time my arthritis seemed to suddenly get a zillion times worse - apparently its a "flare" which can happen from time to time and the fatigue is all part of it, thankfully its fecked off back where it came from and I feel really rather well at the moment lets hope that lasts for a while. How's everyone else been?

I'm here - sorry to have been awol will make sure I correct that from now on (((hugs))

All done Owl

As usual I am the only one up and trying to touch type in the dark because Rob gave my head torch to Nick & Vicky to use during the night lol I have never grown out of waking up at silly o'clock on Xmas day and having to wait impatiently for everyone else to wake or for it to reach a time where I can accidentally on purpose make a noise that wakes the others lol Once everyone is up I wont get much chance to pop in again until later this evening, so wishing you all a very Happy Christmas xxx

Interestingly there IS a way they can stop Trump being president as he's not actually elected "by the people" its the electoral college who elects the president and all they have done so far is "promise" him their votes which they won't actually cast until mid December apparently the "promises" aren't binding on many of the college voters and they could choose to be a "faithless elector" and give their votes to someone else - doesn't even have to be Hilary so long as whoever it is gets 270 votes, or if only a few take their votes away from Trump he won't have the required 270. Its only happened very very rarely but it has been done in the past so you never know ...

5 more sleeps until Destination Star Trek

And then there was one ...... with 2 lots of posts